Scholars and Alumni
Current Scholars
Lisandra Fernández ('13)
Lisandra Fernández was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She graduated with honors from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, majoring in Math and minoring in Language Arts. She received the School of Education Dean’s Award for Excellence and was a distinguished member of Kappa Delta Pi. Lisandra then worked as a third grade teacher at the American International School of Kingston in Kingston, Jamaica for three years. There, she was also a volunteer leader at the Trenchtown Community Kids Club. Before beginning law school, Lisandra interned with the Honorable Curtis J. Bell at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, Family Division. At NYU School of Law, Lisandra was the Women of Color Collective first-year representative. She is also a member of LaLSA and BaLSA, as well as a publicity committee member for the law school Public Service Auction. In the summer of 2011 Lisandra interned at the International Center for Transitional Justice in Cape Town, South Africa.
Kevin Terry ('13)
Kevin Terry was born in Portales, New Mexico, and grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 2008 with a dual degree in Political Science and Chicano Studies, and from the University of Georgia in 2010 with an M.A. in International Affairs. After graduating from UMN, Kevin served as a New Americans Democracy Project Fellow for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, registering new citizens to vote and helping new immigrants obtain citizenship. During his time at the University of Georgia, Kevin was awarded a Goizueta Fellowship in the Department of Education and assisted in implementing new tutoring programs in local schools, in methodological reforms for Georgia teachers, and in the crafting of educational policy recommendations for the state. He has presented papers at conferences for the American Educational Research Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, and at the National Conference on Latino Education and Immigrant Integration. In the summer of 2011 Kevin interned at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division for the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices.
Christine La Rochelle ('14)
Christine LaRochelle graduated Cum Laude from Allegheny College in 2010, where she was an Alden Scholar and a member of Lambda Pi Eta. While pursuing a dual Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, Christine conducted original research in support of her thesis examining Mexican and Argentinean Theatre in the 1970s. Additionally, during her service as the Public Relations Chair of a student group called Advocating Global Health and Development, Christine organized an advertising campaign for a non-profit organization based in Nicaragua. Upon graduation from college, Christine worked as a network development analyst for an international company in Mexico City.
Amy Pont ('14)
Amy Pont was born in Edison, New Jersey. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in International Relations and a minor in Hispanic Studies. During her time as an undergraduate at Penn, Amy researched and wrote articles for the United Nations Chronicle on world issues such as international refugee crisis and the AIDS epidemic. As part of the New York City Public Service Corps, Amy worked to improve immigrant and refugee access to healthcare and public services. Additionally, Amy has been a proud mentor to a young girl from West Philadelphia through the Big Brother Big Sister program since her freshman year at Penn. After graduating from college, Amy volunteered at the American Civil Liberties Union for two years defending civil rights of Pennsylvania residents, specifically reaching out to legally underserved Spanish-speaking immigrants. Internationally, Amy has been part of a delegation to Colombia that researches human rights abuses in the country and devises solutions to protect the rights of those living there.
Jordan Wells ('13)
Jordan Wells graduated from Cornell University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations. While at Cornell, Jordan was on the Dean’s List and received the Cornell Outstanding Activist Award and the Cornell Tradition Senior Recognition Award. Jordan also served as president of the Cornell Organization for Labor Action, as a member of the Cornell Farmworker Advocacy Coalition, and as a steering committee member of the Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition. At NYU School of Law, Jordan is a member of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project and a contributor to The Commentator. Previously, he was director of the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign of the Rural and Migrant Ministry and coordinator for the Sweatfree New York Campaign of the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State – work which earned him the Capital District Young Activist Award. He also served as secretary of the board of directors of Sweatfree Communities. In the summer of 2011 Jordan worked on international human rights cases primarily brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act.
Luis Angel Reyes Zavalza ('15)
Luis was born in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. In 2010, he graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied Political Economy and Political Science. Throughout the years, Luis Angel has been politically active in various social movements. In the immigrant rights movement, for instance, his activities have ranged from organizing community protest against the I.C.E. raids and deportations to advocating for the passage of the California Dream Act. Likewise, his involvement in the labor movement has also been extensive, ranging from, but not limited to, advocating for farm workers’ rights in the Central Valley to organizing hotel workers as an intern with UNITE-HERE Local 19. In addition to these struggles for social justice, Luis Angel has led campaigns against police violence, austerity measures in California, and others more.
Christopher Santos ('15)
Cristopher was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and moved to the United States at the age of 12. He was on the Dean’s List at UCLA and graduated with a B.S. in Psychobiology in 2011. While at UCLA, he fundraised and advocated for undocumented students as part of IDEAS at UCLA. As a Project Director, he also mentored undocumented high school students interested in college. In 2010, he was elected External Vice President of UCLA’s student government and spent the year fighting against fee increases and advocating for the passage of the CA DREAM Act. Following graduation, Cris worked as a campaign organizer for the United Farm Workers, focusing on the re-election of Congressman Howard Berman. He also volunteered at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles, where he worked on the immigration cases of low-income families. Through an internship with the UCLA Labor Center in the summer of 2012, he worked with Good Jobs LA fighting for the rights of workers in the communities of South Los Angeles, Compton, Torrance, and Inglewood.
Alumni
Thomas Fritzsche ('09)
Thomas Fritzsche graduated from NYU School of Law in May 2009 and now works at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project through the prestigious Skadden Fellowship. Prior to graduation, he also won the annual Pro Bono Publico Award from the Public Service Law Network for his work advocating for farmworkers’ rights, as well as the Dean John Sexton Prize for community service. Fritzsche graduated from Amherst College in 2003 with a B.A. in Latin American Studies. While in college, Fritzsche studied abroad in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and participated in a number of community volunteer efforts. Among other activities, he worked as a coordinator and tutor for several youth education and mentorship programs and served as an interpreter at a medical clinic in Amarateca, Honduras. Fritzsche’s employment experience includes performing migrant agricultural work, union organizing with long-term health care workers, and working as a health outreach worker for migrant communities. He was awarded a labor law fellowship from the Peggy Browning Fund for the summer of 2007.
Melissa Navarro ('09)
Melissa Navarro graduated from NYU School of Law in May 2009 and now works as one of only a handful of Spanish speaking attorneys in the Clark County public defender’s office in Las Vegas. Navarro is from Los Angeles, California, and graduated from UCLA in 2005 with a B.A. in Political Science, with minors in English and Geography. During her time in law school, she enrolled in the Criminal and Community Defense Clinic and the Civil Rights Clinic, where she was given the unique opportunity to intern at the ACLU and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. While in college, Navarro studied in Madrid, Spain, interned at the Latino Empowerment Foundation in L.A., and worked in Senator Barbara Boxer’s office researching constituent concerns and current events. After graduation, Navarro worked as an English Language Development teaching assistant in a program designed to improve the testing scores of English language learners. After her first year of law school, during the summer of 2007, Navarro worked at a Los Angeles–based organization, Bet Tzedek, The House of Justice. Bet Tzedek is a legal services organization that provides free assistance to more than 10,000 people in the Los Angeles area.
Maribel Hernández ('10)
Maribel Hernández graduated from NYU School of Law in May 2010. After graduation, she clerked for Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Born in Mexico, Hernández moved to the United States. when she was 13. In 2004, she graduated magna com laude in her field from Harvard University with a B.A. in Social Studies and certificates in Latino Studies and French. Hernández also has an M.P.A. degree from Princeton University. During her undergraduate studies, Hernández served as the Mexican-American Coordinator for Harvard's Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program, was the President of Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA, and worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Prior to law school, Hernández spent a year in Mozambique working as a site manager for Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative. In 2008, she returned to work at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where she helped respond to the influx of Zimbabweans into Mozambique. While at NYU, Hernández served as a student advocate for the Immigrant Rights Clinic, teaching assistant to Professor Richard Pildes, research assistant to Professor Anthony C. Thompson, and co-chair of the Latino Law Students Association. She also served on the New York University Law Review as chair of the Diversity Committee and articles editor. In 2009, Hernández was awarded the prestigious Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. In 2010 she was selected as a Student Delegate to the Academy of Achievement. And upon graduation, Hernández was awarded the Dean John Sexton Prize for outstanding service to the law school community. In December of 2011, Hernández will become the next Fried, Frank/MALDEF Fellow. In this role, Hernández will have the opportunity to work for two years as a litigator at Fried, Frank, Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP before spending two years as a staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Andrea Nieves ('10)
Andrea Nieves graduated from NYU School of Law in May of 2010. Through the Osborn Fellowship, Nieves now works for the Fair Trial Initiative (FTI) in Durham, North Carolina. FTI works to ensure fairness for indigent defendants facing the death penalty. Nieves graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Occidental College in 2007 with a B.A. in American Studies. During college, she studied Art History and Italian Studies in Italy and participated in the AFS Intercultural Program in Quito, Ecuador. At Occidental, Nieves mentored at-risk students in the Los Angeles Bridges After-School Program, an anti-gang initiative, and volunteered as a law clerk in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. At NYU, Nieves served as a staff editor for the Review of Law & Social Change and as co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild chapter. During the summer of 2008, Nieves was a Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellow at the University of Michigan and worked for Legal Services for Children in San Francisco. In 2009, she spent a semester assisting with death penalty cases in Alabama with NYU Law’s Capital Defender Clinic and interned at LatinoJustice PRLDEF in New York. In her final year of law school, Nieves represented juveniles in delinquency proceedings as a student advocate in NYU’s Juvenile Defender Clinic.
Alba Lucero Villa ('11)
Alba Lucero Villa was born in Cali, Colombia, and grew up in New Jersey. She graduated with honors from Brown University in 2001 with a dual degree in International Relations and History, and from American University in 2004 with an M.A. in Journalism and Public Affairs. She has worked as a writer, editor, and education consultant. Villa has been the managing editor of the Latino Studies Journal and has also been an associate editor for TRIAL, the Journal of the American Association for Justice. She has also worked with MFY Legal Services Inc. in New York, conducting employment rights training for workers and advocates. During her graduate studies at American University, Villa was a fellow at The Washington Post and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. During her first year of law school, Villa was awarded an International Law and Human Rights fellowship from the Center for Human Rights & Global Justice to work at the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) during the summer of 2009. In the Fall of 2011, Alba will begin a two year fellowship at LatinoJustice PRLDEF to advocate for low-wage Latino workers in the metropolitan New York area.
Maria Romani ('12)
Maria Romani was born in Peru and grew up in Fresno, California. After graduating at the top of her high school class, she attended and graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 2009 with a B.A. in History and Political Science. Maria is a Gates Millennium Scholar, as well as a Law Fellows member. In college, Maria volunteered her time tutoring and mentoring inner city students. In addition, she has worked with UC-Merced’s Center for Educational Partnerships for two summers as a tutor and residential assistant to underprivileged and lower-tier high school students. At NYU, Maria worked at the Immigrant Rights Clinic on two projects: advocating and doing research for Domestic Workers United while also working on an unaccompanied minor case. Maria also served as the LaLSA Community Outreach Chair and the Women of Color Collective Chair. During her law school summers, Maria interned at the Brooklyn Family Defense Project and at the Center for Constitutional Rights.